Another Medicaid Expansion Proposal?

Some Tennessee legislators are pushing for a special session to try again on the issue.

The Tennessee 2018 regular legislative session begins in January, but some lawmakers want Gov. Haslam to call a special session before then to take up the issue of expanding Medicaid eligibility in the wake of the latest failed attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

However, the move looks to be a long shot that will not gain any traction. While Haslam called a special session in 2015 for a similar reason, he has said he doesn’t think a special session will change anything from last time. The 2015 special session was called to discuss the Insure Tennessee proposal, which would have given healthcare coverage to thousands of low-income Tennesseans, but the measure failed both in special session and in the following regular legislative session.

House Republican leaders were also opposed to the idea, and Speaker Beth Harwell noted that she thinks state representatives and senators should be calling on Congress to delegate healthcare to the states.